Madonna's Punk Demo Cassette In 1979: A Star Before Becoming Pop
Madonna dated Breakfast Club guitarist Dan Gilroy in 1979. The two were pursuing their own vocations while living in a renovated synagogue in Queens, New York. Madonna was at the time following her dream of becoming a dancer. Gilroy decided to teach Madonna how to play the drums because things weren't exactly going well in that area.
Madonna picked it up quite easily. The pre-Material Girl Madonna, then 21 years old, experienced a burst of creativity as a result and began writing both the music and lyrics for songs. She picked up a few guitar chords and learnt to sing.
The Daily Beast revealed tapes that Gilroy had made in the past, when he and Madonna were dating, in 2008. Additionally, he mentioned some of the early tunes she composed and taped on his outdated cassette player. This piece is referred to as the "missing Madonna recordings" in the article itself.
The songs you are going to listen to were written, performed, and recorded by Madonna together with Gilroy, Angie Smit on bass, and Dan's brother Ed on guitar during her brief tenure as the lead singer of the Breakfast Club, so it feels like an appropriate description. In 1979, Madonna self-released them on cassette.
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